Apple, Samsung CEOs to Talk Patent Settlement May 21

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung are set to meet on May 21 and May 22 to begin talks that could potentially lead to a settlement in their ongoing patent infringement lawsuit battle. The talks will be overseen by Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero instead of Judge Lucy Koh, who is presiding over the actual patent infringement case.

Judge Spero is asking both Apple and Samsung to also provide “a candid evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of prevailing on the claims and defenses,” according to Foss Patents.

Exactly what will come of those evaluations is unclear since neither side will likely admit to any weaknesses in their case. “[Apple and Samsung] won’t really say that any of their claims are legally weak, no matter in front of whom these talks take place, but there’s no way they would ever express even the slightest skepticism over any of their claims in front of a judge involved with the actual litigation,” said Florian Mueller of Foss Patents.

Apple and Samsung have been involved in a months-long patent infringement battle in courts around the world over allegations that each side is using mobile patents without proper licensing. At one point Apple’s attorneys claimed in court that Samsung has been “slavishly” copying the iPhone and iPad designs.

Judge Koh pushed Apple and Samsung into the upcoming settlement talks, although there isn’t any guarantee the discussions will resolve the court battles.

As is totally typical and likely a result of obligations to his paying clients, Florian totally misses the point. This battle has nothing to do with infringement, and everything to do with what was essentially a “Make A Wish” for a dying billionaire. Apple doesn’t need to be at war with its main supplier. Samsung isn’t good at war, but rich enough that they can inflict proportional damage ad infinitum.

Bottom line: using governments or courts to take away choice from consumers is a loser market strategy. Cookie knows that.

Actually, Apple handed things back to Oracle last fall, and that’s exactly what let the security breach get out of hand. Oracle wasn’t ready and Apple wasn’t doing anything.

And actually, Apple sued Samsung first and it took several months for Samsung to come up with an offensive strategy that matched Apple tit for tat. Net result of that strategy is that neither party has done any serious damage to the other and they are gonna try to hug it out this month.